Memories
by aquagirl520
Summary: Sequel to 'A Wish Upon a Star'. Shinichi and Shiho finally meet again after Ai's disappearance, but will she remember who he is? R&R please!
1. Chapter 1

**Aha! It's is here! The sequel to 'A Wish Upon a Star'! The updates would be slower 'cause I'm busy lately, but rest assured, it will be finished sooner or later! If you have ideas for this, please PM me, because I only have the roughest of rough drafts for what happens next.**

Disclaimer: I do not own DC

Chapter one

_"Remember me, Ai?"_

Shiho just stared.

"It's not nice to just disappear without notice, you know." Shinichi said with a grin, leaning towards her playfully.

"Wha-" Unused to such close proximity, Shiho took a step back hesitantly, lost her balance, and crashed painfully against the luggage carousel behind her.

"Gomen!" Shinichi reached for her hand, to pull her up, but Shiho shrank away from him instinctively. Almost immediately she regretted doing so, seeing confusion and hurt in his eyes.

Shiho tried to stand and failed, wincing.

Who was this person before her? He looked so familiar, but...

Watching them from behind a nearby pillar, Akemi sighed. So she still couldn't remember..._This is going to much harder than I expected._ She thought.

Deciding that she probably needed to step in, she revealed herself from her hiding place. "Hi, Shiho-chan." She smiled, helping her sister up.

"Nee-chan." Shiho greeted, seeing her suitcase now and bending over to retrieve it. "Who is this?"

Akemi smiled. "Lets go back to my apartment, I'll explain there."

* * *

Shiho studied Shinichi's face over the rim of her cup of coffee. "Kudo... Shinichi..." She said lightly, weighing each syllable on her tongue. Shinichi... the name brought vague, flashing memories to her mind, but each time she tries to hold on to them, to see more clearly, they slip away from her, like a mirage in the desert, appearing and disappearing, always out of reach. "I knew you once... I think. But I don't know how. Or why."

"It took us a long time to figure it all out as well." Akemi said with a small smile. They proceeded to tell her everything, from the beginning.

"We only know bits to it." Akemi said after they've finished. "Shinichi-kun overheard your conversation with Agasa Hakase, he only knew that once a certain syndicate is destroyed, Haibara Ai would disappear. I knew about the organization, and Ai-chan disappeared at the same time Shiho is freed from them. Then Hakase told us about what you said about the wish, and the future, and the drug that can turn people into kids. So we can guess this much."

"But if... Ai... doesn't exist anymore, why do you still remember her... or is it me?"

"That's the part we don't understand." Shinichi said, standing up to reach the bookshelf. He pulled a photo album from it's place there and sat back down.

"Look. These are all places we've been together, but you're not in the photos. No one seems to notice you disappeared. I checked the school files, and no one by the name of Haibara Ai has ever erolled there. The only people who remembered your existence... is me, Hakase, and Akemi-neesan."

"..." Shiho stayed silent, trying to comprehend all this information spinning inside her head.

"I do have one photo of you though." Shinichi said suddenly, pulling out a slightly crumpled photograph. Even though it looked worn, as if he had taken it out often, Shiho could also tell that he obviously treasured it. Shinichi smoothed it out carefully.

Shiho's breath stopped. "This is..."

It was the amusement park from her dreams. Tropical Land. A little strawberry blonde girl, looking very awkward in her pink sundress, smiled reluctantly for the camera.

"I found it on your desk after you... well..."

Shiho nodded, her eyes not leaving the photograph. It looks so...

_"Ai-chan! Let's ride the roller coaster!" The little boy whined, pulling the strawberry blonde girl's arm._

_"No. I don't think so." said the strawberry blonde girl._

_"Pleeeease? It won't be fun if I go alone!"_

_"Not in my lifetime."_

_"But Ai-chan…"_

_"You really don't understand the meaning of the word 'no', do you?"_

_"Come on, Ai-chan! ...Unless you're scared?" the boy challenged._

_"Am not!"_

_"Prove it, then!"_

_"Fine!"_

* * *

"Shiho-chan?" Akemi called, concerned as she waved a hand in front of her sister's face.

"I remembered... us at Tropical Land... fighting about whether we should get on the roller coaster ride..."

"And?" Shinichi asked eagerly, sitting up.

"...I don't know..." Shiho murmured. Her head is spinning from both the flashbacks and fatigue.

"I think you should get some sleep for now, Shiho-chan. Shinichi will show you around tomorrow, and take you to meet Hakase again."

Shiho tried to protest, saying that really, all she needed is a cup a coffee, but Akemi would have none of that. In the end, Shiho nodded wearily and allowed her sister to show her the guest bedroom.

_Kudo Shinichi... I wish I could remember him..._

**A/N: This is hard!! I've got ideas but they are very hard to put into words. Thanks a million to Miyano Ran for her ideas and beta reading!! Hug you!!**


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews!! I get really high and starts jumping up and down singing everytime I see one! XD Now, I really have to hurry with the updating since I have a mountain of homework waiting.

Disclaimer: I don't own DC, still trying to buy it from Aoyama Gosho, but I guess it's not happening anytime soon, ne?

(Shiho's POV)

Even though neechan insisted that I rest, and I'm thoroughly exhausted, I barely got any sleep. Random flashbacks of the past, the _other_ past as I call it in my mind, kept appearing in my dreams, fading away too fast for me to grasp any details. I hate feeling so powerless, knowing that the memories I lost is right in front of me but I can do nothing to see it clearly.

Kudo-kun was there when I woke from my troubled dreams. Normally I would have grabbed him by an ear and throw him out, or just shoot him to save time, but somehow seeing him there didn't startle me as much as it probably should have. It's almost as if I _expected_ to see him.

I clear my throat. "I thought it wasn't polite for a guy to come into someone's room without knocking. A _girl's_ room, come to think of it, _and_ while she is sleeping." I pointed out accusingly.

He blushed. "Sorry... I...um..."

"Never mind." I said, sitting up and pulling back the covers. I looked at him.

There was an awkward pause.

"...Could you leave so I can change?"

"Right... sorry..." He left, closing the door carefully behind him.

I felt myself smile. Then shook myself out of it and opened the suitcase I brought. I took my time hanging the clothes up in my new closet, looking at each one and deciding what to wear. I didn't even bother to ponder why I was choosing my outfit so carefully, or why I checked the mirror so many times even after I slipped into the sleeveless khaki jacket and jeans that I finally selected. Or why I was nervous when I turned the doorknob.

"Morning, Neechan, Kudo-kun." I greeted.

"Morning, Shiho-chan! Look, I made breakfast!" Neechan chirped, busying herself around the kitchen. She seems happier than I'd seen her in a long time. I smiled, looking down at the enormous pile of pancakes in the plate. "Oh, and nice outfit by the way."

The front door opened. "Akemi-chan, you said you have to talk to m--" Agasa Hakase,whom I vaguely recognize from the photographs Kudo-kun had shown me yesterday and my flashes of memories, walked in, and froze upon seeing me. "...Ai-kun?"

"It's her, Hakase!!" Kudo-kun said, as the professor, whom I think looks even kinder, if possible, than he does in the photographs or my memories, and as he reached out to hug me I realized with a sudden wave of nostalgia, that I recognized his fatherly way to me.

"I made pancakes!" Neechan said cheerily.

"Mine!" Kudo-kun and Hakase both said at the same time.

"...Shinichi! No fair, that's mine!" Hakase whined.

I sat down, laughing, watching the two adults bicker like children.

_"Shouldn't you be home for dinner?"_

_"Go home? Why should I force myself to eat my mom's broccoli when I can come here? I'm eating dinner here every day!"_

_"Noooooooo! Eat your own food!"_

I shivered, dropping my fork. What was that?

"Are you okay? You look pale." Kudo-kun asked, a note of concern in his voice.

I smiled reassuringly. "I'm fine."

Neechan looked at me carefully, obviously worried. "If you say so." she said after awhile, busy loading the pile of pancakes onto another plate and handing it to Kudo.

* * *

"So she really doesn't remember us?" Hakase said, disappointed, as Neechan got up to refill the coffee.

Neechan sighed. "I'm afraid not."

"We're not supposed to remember... I thought maybe..."

So there it is again. _Why can't you remember?_

And in that moment, overwhelming guilt, frustration, and unexpected anger flooded me, and I looked down, biting my lip. Anger at myself, at my uselessness.

They all knew her. Ai. This girl who is supposed to be me but at the same time isn't me. They all knew her better than I know myself.

And just who am I?

"Ai-- I mean Shiho..." Hakase's hand on my arm brought me back down to earth. He smiled. "We don't expect you remember all at once, you know that, right?"

I nodded.

"Shinichi, why don't you show Shiho-chan around? See if she recognize anything." Neechan said. "I need to talk to Hakase."

"Sure!" Shinichi stood, and reached for my hand to help me up. I didn't pull away.

A/N: Is it okay? I'm down with a case of mild writer's block, so sorry if it's no good...


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay so I've finally found the conscience to update this, so sorry it took so long!! Thank you to everyone who reviewed and I hope this is worth the wait.**

aquagirl520: I am the owner of Detective Conan.  
Gosho Aoyama: HEY!!  
aquagirl520: Sorry...just wanted to say something different for once, you know... what I mean is: I am NOT the owner of Detective Conan.

Chapter 3

"I knew this place," Shiho said, looking around thoughtfully as the two of them stepped out to the streets. "You could probably ask me to go to the grocery store or the post office and I could find my way blindfolded. ...At least I could when I'm not trying to think of it logically. And provided that there are no cars on the street, of course."

"None of this is really logical." Shinichi said with a shrug. "You should know this place, I guess. We walk to school from here every day, after all. See there? That's the book store I always drag you to when there's a new detective novel out, and you'd roll your eyes and ignore me when I talk about how I'd solved the mystery before the book ended."

"Oh really, tantei-san?"

Shinichi's footsteps halted.

"What? Is something on my face?"

She thought she's seen a disappointed look cross his eyes, but it was gone the next second, and she dismissed it as a trick of the light.

"Nothing, it's just... you used to call me that."

"Oh..."

"I am now, though... a detective, you told me I would be one, a long time ago."

Memories fought to break surface. Shiho braced herself, willing them to pull her back to the past again, to show her scenes from that childhood she'd forgotten. Images flashed behind her closed eyes... a rooftop, stars, the headlights of random cars driving on the streets far away... she felt everything in the memory, fear... and terrible sadness, both overwhelmingly strong... then she remembered a voice, someone handing her a jacket...Kudo perhaps? ...And his presence was able to ease some of it.

"I remember... at least a little... I think... on that rooftop..." Shiho murmured, as the memory slipped out of her grasp yet again.

They walked on in silence, Shiho hoping that she would remember something else, and Shinichi staying silent just in case she does.

They passed the school.

"Teitan Elementary..." Shiho read off the sign, stopping to examine the school grounds.

"That's our school." Shinichi said. "It looks newer than it did when you were here. They fixed the buildings up a few months after you left."

Shiho nodded.

"Come on, I'll show you our old classroom."

* * *

As it is still summer vacation, the school looked relatively gray the absence of kids, and the grass drooped unenthusiastically from the lack of rain.

Shiho scanned her surroundings. The renovation had erased almost every detail that might have triggered a recollection, but every once in a while she swore she could see swirls of colour as the kids ran around, playing tag, and she could hear their bright voices, but when she blinked again, the same dull, still gray replaced it all again.

"Here it is."

Class 3-B, the sign at the door read. Shinichi pushed the door open, and the creak rang out loud in the silence. No one bothered to lock the door when the classroom is empty of student's belongings.

"Look." Shiho said, pointing at the childish paintings hanging in the back, along with calligraphy practices, and short poems.

"This person has the same first name as me!" Shinichi laughed, bending close to examine the slanted signature at the bottom of a picture.

"He doesn't look like you though, judging from the self portrait." Shiho remarked, walking to a seat by the windows and sitting down. "Too cute."

Shinichi made a face.

"That was your desk, you know." he said, sitting down in the seat next to it. "Hey, they didn't change the desks! See here? I carved Sherlock Holmes's name on this one time when I was bored."

Shiho nodded, wondering just how a person can be so obssesed with Sherlock Holmes. She ran a hand along the underside of the desk, a habit she developed with the syndicates, as they tend to leave messages there.

Her fingertips made contact with something. Paper.

"There's something here." She said, bending down to remove the paper taped to the woodden surface.

It was a sheet of yellowing paper neatly torn off from a notebook.

"What does it say? Come on, read it!"

But Shiho made no move to unfold the paper. She just stared.

"What? What is it?"

When she still didn't move, Shinichi gently tugged the piece of paper from her hand, and he stared too.

On the other side, where a piece of tape sealed it, were three words. Words written by a familiar hand.

_To Shiho Miyano._

**Oooh... cliffy... mua-hahaha!! ****I fixed some details in this. I posted it in such a hurry yesterday that I forgot to look it over more carefully! So sorry about those who read this before I changed it. This will be my last update in awhile, so I hope you enjoy! And review, of course!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone! REALLY long time no see! I'm so sorry I kept you all waiting for so long!! A billion thanks to everyone that reviewed!! **

Disclaimer: In a parallel universe, I expect I'll own DC, but only there. In this world however, the credit is all Aoyama Gosho's.

Chapter 4

_...To Shiho Miyano..._

It was her script, Shiho thought with a jolt, recognizing the curve of each letter, the way she shaped each word. It made it all the more easier for her to believe that she herself had once wrote this, ten years ago, when this yellowing sheet of paper was still a new, fresh white.

"Read it." Shinichi urged, handing the letter back to her. With a small nod, Shiho carefully lifted the tape sealing the side, noticing for the first time that her hands were shaking, and unfolded the note, Shinichi peering over her shoulder as she read:

_To Shiho Miyano,_

_If you came and found this letter, then I can only assume that you've felt that something was out of place and had come to investigate. _

_You know the syndicate. I was taken to work for them at the age of eight. They... killed Neechan, and I refused to keep working with them. I was sentenced to die, and I escaped from the poison gas chamber by taking the pill that was in progress...APTX4869... you should be familiar with the drug... It turned me into a little girl, and I went to find Kudo Shinichi, another person in the same condition. A few months after that, I made a wish on a shooting star, that I would be able to see Neechan again. Soon after, I found myself in the same place ten years ago. _

_I had to put things right, to make sure the syndicate is gone and Neechan will be safe. And besides, I had promised Kudo that I would return his life to normal, with his childhood friend Ran. But doing so would make me disappear, and forget everything about the time while I was here. I had been prepared to leave everything behind, I told myself again and again not to get too attached to the life I'm living, but as the time neared I saw that leaving was harder than I had ever imagined._

_I kept a diary. Half of me wanted to get rid of it like I'd intended to since the beginning, but in the end I put it in my desk at Hiroshi Agasa's house, and hid the letter here, hoping you would remember some trace and find it, and at the same time wanting to keep my promise and letting it all be forgotten._

_Find Agasa Hakase, and Kudo-kun, if this letter hasn't disappeared with me. It won't be very hard, I expect, since I'm sure Kudo-kun will be a very famous detective by the time you find this._

_It's very hard to believe, and I have no idea why my wish came true. I suppose Neechan is right and shooting stars are magic._

_-Haibara Ai_

Enclosed is Agasa Hakase's address.

Haibara Ai... Shiho stared at the name. Seeing it written down made it all seem more real. She could picture herself, ten years ago, holding this note in her hands, debating whether to throw it away or not.

They exchanged glances.

"Let's go back to Hakase's then," Shinichi said, breaking the silence.

She turned. "You think it's still there?"

"If the letter didn't disappear, why shouldn't the diary be there?" He shrugged.

"You found the photo of me in my room. You would have found it, wouldn't you?" she reminded him. "I don't think you would miss much."

He grinned. "Glad to know you think so highly of me."

Still, they both agreed that it was worth a shot, and left to find Hakase.

People nodded pleasantly at them as they passed, occasionally stopping to chat. Shiho smiled, strangely at ease in a town she had only arrived in a day ago. No one gawked at her as they had back in America, where everyone on campus knew her name. She was glad to blend in, and just be another face in the crowd.

"Who was that?" she asked, as a short woman with wavy dark hair left after congratulating Shinichi on his latest case. She looks familiar, and Shiho could swear she saw a flicker of recognition cross her eyes when she left.

"Do you remember something?" he asked eagerly.

"She seems... familiar."

Shinichi grinned. "That was our teacher. Hoshino sensei. She liked you a lot. Really liked to pick on me though, for some reason." He scowled at the memory.

"Shinichi--!" Someone behind them called, and seconds later a long haired girl caught up to them, looking at Shiho curiously.

"Hi, Ran." Shinichi greeted, somewhat sheepishly, as Shiho nodded politely and waited to be introduced, at the same time trying to free her wrist from Shinichi's grip without Ran noticing. Shiho felt a twinge of something in the pit of her stomach. There was something about her that made Shiho want to turn away. It wasn't dislike, really, more of something along the lines of... jealousy? But that's absurd, she had never met this person before in her life.

"Ran, this is Hai--"

"--Miyano Shiho," Shiho interrupted.

"I'm Mouri Ran." Ran said, shaking her hand. She looked at Shiho closely, brows furrowed. "Have we met before?"

Shiho smiled evasively. "Perhaps."

"Oh..." Ran looked puzzled for a moment, then turned to Shinichi. "Otousan wants to say thanks for helping with the last case they had. He's thinking of leaving the force sometime soon, maybe open up a detective agency."

"You're sure he can handle that?" Shinichi laughed, earning a sharp glare from Ran. He shut up immediately.

"I'm just passing on the message. Anyway... Sonoko's counting up the number of people coming to our class reunion dinner, you coming?"

"I'll be busy lately, Ran, some other time."

Ran looked disappointed, but still left them with a cheerful wave.

"I knew her once, didn't I?" Shiho asked, watching Ran round the corner.

"She's a friend of ours. She was in our class."

They showed Hakase and Akemi the note. Both read and reread it, speechless at the new information.

"Could we go look for it?" Shiho asked, hesitantly, as Hakase flipped the note over yet again, as if he thought more words would suddenly appear.

"Of course," Hakase said, recovering a little. "It's always been your room, Ai-kun. I still keep it the same way since you left."

The room gave clean but somehow empty feeling that made it evident to anyone looking that no one had lived here for a long time. A wave of nostalgia swept over her as she looked around, eyes taking in every detail, from the soft lavender curtains, the simple wooden closet, to the neatly made bed.

The desk was empty except for a few pens and empty notebooks.

Hakase sighed, disappointed, but Shinichi reached to tap the back of the drawer. "It feels hollow."

"The wood there doesn't match the rest of the drawer." Akemi added.

Shiho bent to examine the wooden surface. "There's an indent on the side."

Akemi lifted the board in the back carefully, revealing more space. Inside they found a small bronze badge with the words "Detective Boys" on the side that no one seemed to be able to recognize, and three disks that, when closer inspected, they saw were labeled by year.

"That must be it!" Hakase exclaimed, all doubt vanishing.

"So..." Shiho smiled, holding one of the disks in her hand. "Mind giving me a bit of privacy while I read?"

* * *

**A/N: Whew... I've finally updated! I'm really supposed to be studying though... oh well, it's Chinese New Years and I need a break. So review and tell me what you think!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Again, sorry for the long wait, everyone! I'll update now! Thanks again to all the reviewers!**

Disclaimer: Aquagirl: I own Detective Conan!

Aoyama: In your dreams.

Aquagirl: How about this story?

Aoyama: …Fair enough then.

Chapter 5

It was midnight. A small breeze entered Shiho's room, making the curtains billow out, illuminated by the pale moonlight.

She still sat in front of the computer, hugging her knees, staring at the screen. The cup of tea on her desk now stone cold. It had been nearly an hour since Akemi last checked on her, insisting that she get some sleep. But who could sleep with so many wild, impossible truths before one's eyes? She had read the diary time and time again, her scientific mind trying to fault it, but failing to do so with each attempt. She smiles.

Haibara Ai. She remembered.

The moment she read each passage, the event seemed to jump out of the screen and into her mind like they were there all along, coming alive in a swirl of color and sound. And once they appeared, they stayed.

Along with the three years recorded,came the memories of everything else: Edogawa Conan, the Detective Boys... the life she'd led before taking apotoxin.

Memories of three lives filled her mind, overwhelming her thoughts.

_But you were somewhere else when these things happened,_ a part of her mind argued,_you had exact memories of being Shiho Miyano as well, and surely they can't both happen at the same time? Twenty years of memories, compared to three years?_

Outside, she heard her sister's bedroom door open, a she turned the computer off in a hurry and slipped between the covers, feigning sleep just as Akemi opened the door to check on her again so she wouldn't worry.

Remembering made her so grateful knowing that her sister is able to stand here now.

_I remember now_... she thought, _Not what I expected before... I wonder what I did for me to be so lucky._

But that logical part of her mind still wouldn't let go. What of the twenty years she'd lived?

She fell asleep, realizing just how tired she is only when her head hit the pillows, and left her mind to argue in her dreams.

* * *

Shiho woke surprisingly early the next morning; feeling thoroughly sleep-deprived yet is unable to fall asleep again.

The more she lay there, trying to fall back to sleep, the more awake she felt. So she got up and did something she hadn't done in a long time: she got up to make breakfast.

Practically living at the lab for most of her life, she was accustomed to sustaining herself with coffee, take out Chinese food, or an occasional sandwich that her classmates or professor brought her. The fridge in her apartment back in America is usually empty to the point when she wondered why she even bother to keep it plugged in.

So she was fairly surprised to find her hands handling the pan like they've been doing so forever.

"Ai-kun's making breakfast!" A voice behind her exclaimed, followed by a loud thump. Hakase tripped from trying to squeeze him frame through the kitchen door.

"Uso! Really?" Hakase, finally straightening himself, was again knocked down by Shinichi as he rushed into the kitchen as well.

Hakase was in near tears. "I'm so touched!! You have no idea how it's been cooking for myself for ten whole years... Ai-kun--!" He sniffed, throwing his arms around the strawberry blonde and making them all duck as the sudden movement caused the oil from the pan to spill.

"Hakase!" Shiho scolded halfheartedly. She straighted, flipped the eggs in the pan over, and pushed the two away from her with a small smile. "For the hundredth time, stay out of the kitchen unless you two want to go hungry!"

Both Hakase and Shinichi backed off, staring at each other in shock, then a huge grin broke out on both their faces. "You're back!!!!"

"Yes, I suppose I am, in a way." she said with a smile.

"You're all up already?" Akemi said, joining them downstairs. She caught Shiho's eyes and grinned.

"You remember now!? That's great news! We should celebrate!"

"Yosh!" Hakase agreed fervently.

It's weird, what she's feeling now: a part of her still feeling awkward at being so close to people she'd only met a few days ago (?), and the other part so relieved to be standing here and wishing that she would never have to leave again.

_I feel at home here,_ she decided, a strong argument to her logical mind._ Maybe it was only three years, but I feel more at home then I'd ever been, and that's good enough._

_

* * *

_

**A/N: There, my update. I'm typing this at my grandparent's place, the same place where I started on this site! And two days later, I'll be on this site for two years! Cheer!! Again, thanks so much for putting up with my slow updates, and please review!!**

**A shoutout to HArU-kuN: Thanks so much!! Where's your school? I love your school!**

**Aqua~**


	6. Chapter 6

**I promised this would be my next update, so here it is! Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, I can never thank you enough!**

Disclaimer: Do I look like a Japanese man named Aoyama? No? Not even close? So I don't own Detective Conan. Of course, though, Tricia Ryans is a character created by me, not said Japanese man.

Chapter 6

"Where did I put it…?" Shiho muttered in frustration, looking around her room and trying to pinpoint where the ringing of her cell phone is coming from. Her half unpacked suitcase lay by the bed, forgotten in the excitement of the previous days, but she wouldn't have left it there…

Her cell phone stopped ringing just as she pulled it out from one of her coat pockets with a small sigh of triumph. She glanced at the caller ID, and waited patiently for the caller to try again.

It didn't take long for her phone to ring again, as she expected. "Moshi moshi?"

"Shiho! Why haven't you called?"

"Sorry, Tricia. Jet lagged." Shiho replied wearily, holding the phone a distance away as her former lab partner and ex-roommate began hassling her about returning emails.

"Never mind, I knew you probably won't call anyways. So, how's Japan? I still can't believe your turned down Professor Williams's offer to be teaching assistant. I'm still helping at the lab, and he kept going on about losing his best student. I'd kill to be offered the position. The salary is almost twice what I get serving coffee down at that Internet café."

Shiho decided to ignore the last complaint. "Japan's nice. I haven't really gotten around to sightseeing."

She put the phone on speaker, as she sat to unpack the rest of her luggage. She let her friend so most of the talking, giving absentminded replies every now and then.

Folding the soft gray sweater Akemi had given her last Christmas, Shiho suddenly noticed silence from the other end, and it took her another few seconds to realize that Tricia is expecting an answer to a question she had failed to hear.

"Sorry, what?"

There was an exasperated sigh from the other end of the phone. "You've decided to put me on speaker and ignore me again, haven't you?"

"Yeah," she admitted, knowing her friend was used to her lack of response and wouldn't bother getting mad.

Shiho smiled. Tricia somehow reminded her of Yoshida Ayumi, from one of her many mixed up memories. She was talkative and much more cheerful than Shiho herself can ever achieve. The thought gave her mind a small jolt. She was startled to find that the memory of Ayumi and the rest of the kids had felt…different until the moment she had that thought, like they where characters to a book she had read a long time ago.

"I was just saying, are you coming back soon?"

Shiho was silent. The question had taken her off guard. She had come in search for answers. Now she has them. So what now?

"Hello? Seriously, tell me you're listening this time."

"I'm listening. I just… I don't know."

Her door opened after a brisk knock. "Ai, Hakase made an invention explode again. Can you come help?" Shinichi asked, his voice lowering slightly when he saw that she was on the phone.

Tricia gasped. "Is that a guy? Is that why you turned down almost all the boys in our grade and then rush back to Japan as soon as school's over?" Her tone was indignant. "I can't believe you didn't tell me you have a boyfriend!"

"He's not." Shiho said, quickly. "I'll call you back."

"Sure you will." Tricia said, evidently rolling her eyes.

The strawberry blonde hung up with a sigh, and turned to the Shinichi, who was still waiting for a reply in the doorway.

Shiho was shocked to find that, for a split second, the detective felt like a stranger again. The feeling passed as fast as it had come, and she blinked, unsure whether it had happened or not.

"What was he trying to build this time?" she asked, clearing her throat.

"Some type of perpetual motion machine, I think."

Shiho sighed. "Is the everything covered in motor oil again?"

Shinichi grinned, knowing that she was referring to a car fiasco a few months before her disappearance. Hakase was attempting to fix the yellow beetle and had miraculously caused the oil tank to blow up.

"No, but it's still a mess. We have to help take the couch down to the incinerator."

She put away the last of the clothes into her closet, and followed him to Hakase's house, where the old inventor grinned at them apologetically, the little hair remaining on his head is in disarray, the ends looking suspiciously charred.

"Hakase, you do know perpetual motion machines defy the law of conservation of energy?"

"Hehe… don't put it that way, Ai-kun…" Hakase said meekly, rubbing soot from the tip of his nose. "It's every inventor's dream, you know…"

The couch was barely recognizable; the smoking remains of Hakase's effort lay in pieces at its center like a grotesque statue of some sort.

"Looks like Hakase could use a new couch," Akemi commented. "I'll look for one online."

"I'll do it," Shiho offered.

Akemi grinned. "No, you go help Shinichi-kun."

"But Neechan, you're really bad when it comes to computers. Remember how long it took for you to type IM at a normal speed?"

Her sister laughed. "I'll manage."

Shinichi and Shiho gingerly dropped the charred pieces into a separate bag, as Hakase swept up the debris.

"Just like old times, ne?" Shinichi joked, removing one of the couch's cushions.

Shiho smiled. The fleeting sense of distance earlier seemed impossible now. "Thank god the other rooms were spared. I think half the furniture here have been replaced since I left."

They talked, Shinichi telling her about everything she had missed in her unfinished third grade, and Shiho recounted things that happened in the States.

An excellent observer, Shiho soon noticed that when the topic went to her life as Shiho Miyano, the memories of Ai seemed far away, especially the memories of the time before her wish, of Edogawa Conan, or the Shonen Tantei. The feeling came and went, like an out of control radio, switching channels on its own.

"I think there's a piece over there, could you see it?" Shinichi asked, peering under a heavy olive green armchair.

She watched him frown in concentration as he retrieved a small flashlight and used it to search under the chair. She couldn't look away. She knew his face so well, the way his eyebrows furrowed when he's thinking, the triumphant smile when he figured something out.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked, looking at her curiously.

"What? Oh… nothing…" she said quickly, looking away, and was surprised to find herself blushing.

---

"Shiho! It's good to hear from you!" Professor Williams said, sounding surprised but glad nevertheless.

"I'm not interrupting something, am I?"

"Not at all! Is something the matter?"

Professor Williams filled in the role of her father, much like Agasa Hakase had when she was Haibara Ai. It takes a lot for her to trust someone, having been in the organization and seen the worst of humanity, but they were both people she knew she could confide in.

"It might not be easy to believe, professor…" Hesitantly she recounted the story.

"Interesting… no wonder you need to rush to Japan. I would have done the same thing." He said thoughtfully after a long, shocked silence. Ai smiled wryly as she remembered Hakase's reaction when she told him that she came from the future. "You'll ask me to swear to secrecy, won't you? You have my word on that."

"I don't get it…I remember now, and as soon as I think of the memories, they're just like any other, but when I'm talking to Tricia, or talking about… well… college, they just… fade into the background."

A long silence followed, one that Shiho knew not to interrupt.

"You have to understand, you might be the first case ever to have experienced… er, what should we call it, time travel? And even if there had been cases similar to yours throughout history, you might be the first to be aware of it.

"You're not going to recommend me a shrink?"

The professor laughed. "I believe you, Shiho. At least I don't think you're mad."

"Sometime I wonder if this should be defined as a case of muti-personality disorder," Shiho said. "One personality hidden while the other comes out to play."

"Interesting comparison," was the professor's thoughtful reply. "Maybe those with the disorder are actually people who have experienced the same thing unknowingly. You should have written your term paper on this… well, if you had known… Really unique situation…"

"Professor?"

The professor cleared his throat in embarrassment. "Sorry, I'm rambling on, it a habit when one gets old… here I go again… have you ever considered that your mind, as brilliant as it is, simply can't handle so many memories at once? I'm sure your sub-conscious mind is having a difficult time trying to process the fact that all those things seemingly happened at the exact same moment."

"…"

"So, want to tell me the real reason you called?" Professor Williams asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"…I don't know what you mean."

The professor laughed. "Come on, Shiho, I know you too well to know that you must have thought of this already. You almost never ask me questions. You're brilliant mind would find an explanation to every situation. What you really do feel the need to ask is things that are more personal, problems you confide, and you don't normally do that either."

A surprised silence followed. She didn't realize that the professor had observed her habits so well. She had always thought she concealed her personality well.

"My guess is— and you should probably talk to Tricia about this instead, though I know you wouldn't like her gushing— that it's about that detective kid."

Shiho remained silent. Again, the professor had surprised her. She wasn't sure what she felt about someone reading her thoughts so easily, even the professor whom she deeply respected.

"So? Was I right, or should I redo my hypothesis?"

"…I think I… like him. Haibara Ai does, anyway…"

"And Miyano Shiho?"

She thought back. Her heartbeat had accelerated whenever Shinichi was around. But she didn't know which part of her, or perhaps both, is controlling that reaction. She may excel academically, but this was something that she was completely unfamiliar with.

"I…I don't know." She mumbled, abashed. "I'd known him for less than a month."

"Sometimes it takes less than that." The professor laughed. "Sorry, I have a class in five minutes. Let me know how things go."

She placed the phone back, more confused than ever. She lifted the edge of her curtains, and watched Shinichi and Hakase talk in the driveway. He saw her and waved. She returned a tentative smile.

She turned on her laptop to find over a dozen unanswered emails. Smiling, she read them over and hit 'reply':

**Tricia,**

**Sorry to disappoint you, but I think I'm going to stay in Japan for a little longer. I'll remember to call you sometimes. I'll let you know if I'm going back.**

She read her message over, glance outside the window once more, and pressed 'send'.

-----

**A/N: I apologize for the very, VERY slow update speed! I will find a way to make it up to all of you! I hope you won't punish my lack of updates by not reviewing? …(Looks at you all with puppy dog eyes)**

**And a note to manga lovers in Taiwan: CWT rocks!!**


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